1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the medical industry and, more specifically, to a multi-functional medical software program that is used to support concurrent review hospital discharge or continued stay recommendations; to determine effective allocation of hospital staff and other resources; and to obtain data for quality improvement projects.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As healthcare cost increase throughout the world, healthcare providers must make difficult choices regarding how to provide the best possible services at prices their patients can afford. Although most clinicians would prefer to purchase every cutting edge medical technology available, they simply cannot afford to do so while still caring for their patients in an affordable manner.
One way to provide more efficient health care is to determine how and when a patient should be discharged. This particular area of health care has been the subject of numerous law suits which drive up the cost of health care. Determining whether a patient should remain hospitalized has traditionally been based on the subjective decision of a medical practitioner. The risks of a faulty decision not only have large economic repercussions to the health care provider, but literally affect the very life and well being of the patient. Because of this, many hospitalization stay decisions have been the source of bitter disputes and lawsuits between hospitals, insurance companies and the patients themselves.
To help avoid these disputes, several systems have been employed to provide an objective footing for hospital stay/discharge decision making. However these systems are complicated, hard to use, and sometimes yield ambiguous decisions.
Another way to provide more efficient health care is in the area of effective allocation of hospital staff and other medical resources. Many times, different areas in the hospital or medical center are either overstaffed or understaffed. These areas may further not have the proper resources to effectively diagnosis and treat patients. By effectively staffing all departments of the hospital, resources may be better utilized to better serve the patients and lower health care cost.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that overcomes the problems associated with the prior art. The system and method will provide a means for providing more efficient health care. The system and method will determine how and when a patient should be discharged. The system and method will further determine effective allocation of hospital staff and other resources. The system and method will further obtain data for quality improvement projects.